Residents cry, remember as Bush remains return to Ellington

1of3Gerald Asbury was one of several hundred people lining the perimeters of the Ellington Airport complex late Wednesday afternoon to witness the return of George H.W. Bush’s remains to Houston.

2of3Children watch through a fence at Ellington Airport as the remains of George H.W. Bush return to Houston. Many residents brought their children, saying they wanted them to witness the event.

3of3Janette Ellison brought her young son and a Texas flag to Ellington Airport as hundreds of spectators paid their respects to President George H.W. Bush.

Standing near the fence enclosing the Ellington Airport airstrip late Wednesday afternoon, Trawnda Childs was trying to decide where she could get the best view.

Childs was one of several hundred people who lined the perimeters of the Ellington complex for a glimpse of the Boeing 747 bringing George H.W. Bush back to Houston for the last time. Some were in tears and some stood with young children they had brought to witness the event.

Childs, 49, came to salute a fellow Navy veteran and her former commander.

“I served two tours in Desert Storm under President Bush, and I’m here to pay my respects,” she said.

Childs remembered how Bush’s own World War II service resonated with her when she was in duty overseas.

“It made me feel more understood,” she said. “He knew what it was like to serve, and so it was a matter of knowing what we were going through as servicemen and servicewomen and then becoming veterans.”

Another Navy veteran, David Jenkins, stood on the flatbed of his truck, checking his phone for updates on the trajectory of the plane carrying Bush’s casket as it made its way from Washington, D.C., to Houston.

“I wanted to pay respects to H.W.,” he said.

Glenn Autrey, 45, was at Ellington when Bush son, former president George W. Bush, arrived in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. He wanted his friend, Raphael Rivera, to see the remains of the elder Bush land at Ellington.

“You don’t forget something like that, and I wanted him (Rivera) to experience this,” Autrey said.

Journey from Humble

Janette Ellison and her brother, James Araiza, drove from Humble and unfurled a Texas flag on the bed of their truck. Ellison, 31, brought her 5-year old son, and while she fought back tears, she said it wasn’t sadness she felt, but a feeling of experiencing a moment bigger than she was.

“This isn’t something that happens every day, so you just hope he remembers it,” she said.

Cheryl Bond also brought her young children, Bella, 9, and Jude, 7.

“I’ve never had the opportunity to see something like this, and I wanted to show my kids how to be respectful and I think they understand what’s going on,” she said. “We were lucky to have Bush Sr.”

Pearland resident Felix Harvey, 57, took time away from work to be at Ellington.

‘A good man’

“I believe he was a good man and he did a lot for the country,” he said.

Harvey’s friend, Alex Saldana, was a junior at Texas A&M in 1992 when then-President George H.W. Bush delivered and dedicated a piece of the Berlin Wall to the campus.

“That made an impression on me, and ever since then, I’ve been a follower,” Saldana said.

Durga Sunkara, a physician in Pasadena, held onto a letter of thanks from the 41st president. The letter, dated and signed by Bush, was in response to Sunkara’s own letter of gratitude to the Bush family in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

While waiting at Ellington for the plane to land, Janette Ellison was thinking of her father, who taught her that politics shouldn’t divide people. The outpouring of affection for Bush, she said, seemed to drive home that message.

“I am a Democrat, and something like this … politics doesn’t play a role,” Ellison said. “It’s not about who you are as a Republican or Democrat and how you vote, and it’s not always black and white. It’s just a matter of respecting somebody that did something for your country. I mean, there’s a parking lot full of people here and we’re all coming together just to be here and be part of history.”